Today I Learned …

On October 28, 1928, John Sabo, nicknamed “The Kid”, turned twenty-one. He also happened to be an inmate in Columbus Ohio who was scheduled to go to the electric chair. He celebrated the milestone birthday with a party to which seven other death row convicts were invited. John did the best he could with his ten-dollar budget — though the cons had to eat their cake with cardboard knives and forks, since they were not permitted metal cutlery. On June 28, 1929, the governor commuted the young prisoner’s sentence to life in prison. Perhaps that’s what John wished for when he blew out his candles. (from Horror in the Heartland: Strange and Gothic Tales From the Midwest, by Kevin McQueen)